Shielded electric cigarette lighter



April 4, 1961 R BATSON 2,978,566

SHIELDED ELECTRIC CIGARETTE LIGHTER Filed May 8, 1959 INVENTOR. E0699?- W. .64 7150M United States Patent SHIELDED ELECTRIC CIGARETTE LIGHTER Robert W. Batson, Arlington, Calif. (5060 Berryhill Place, Riverside, Calif.)

Filed May 8, 1959, Ser. No. 812,050

7 Claims, (Cl. 219-32) This invention relates to improvements in electric cigarette lighters, such as used in automobiles, and more particularly to novel and advanced lighters of this kind whose heating elements are shielded to prevent distracting glow of the elements when energized and to prevent contact of cigarettes with the elements.

The primary object of the invention is to provide lighters of the character indicated above which have opaque shielding means of suitable metal or non-metallic materials, which overlie and surround the outer or cigarette-contacting faces of their heating coils, so that the glow of the coils, when energized, which, especially during night driving of automobiles, distracts and sometimes temporarily blinds or reduces the vision of the user, is eliminated, or reduced, and the use of such lighters is rendered safer.

Another object of the invention is the provision of lighters of the character indicated above, wherein the shielding means includes cigarette-contacting plates which overlie and extend across the cigarette-contacting faces of the heating coils and are spaced from such faces, so that the plates remain substantially cooler than the coils and cigarettes are prevented by the plates from contacting the coils and depositing ashes and other products of combustion on the coils, which can clog or accumulate on the coils or fall as sparks onto the floors of automobiles, or onto the clothes of drivers thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide shielding means of the character indicated above, suitable as built-in components of lighters or as accessories sold separately for installation on lighters, and whose cigarette-contacting plates are imperforate except for opening means therein to enable sufiicient heat from the heating coils to be drawn therethrough by smoking suction applied to cigarettes, to ignite the ends of cigarettes applied against the plates.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an electric cigarette lighter in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged end elevation of Figure 1, looking from right to left;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, a cigarette in phantom lines being shown applied to the contacting plate;

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are face views of cigarette contacting plates other than that shown in Figure 2; and

Figures 7, 8 and 9 are transverse sections taken on the lines 7-7, 8-8 and'99 of Figures 4, 5 and 6, respectively.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like and realted numerals designate like and related parts throughout the several views, and first to Figures 1 to 3, the illustrated lighter, generally designated 12, comprises a substantially conventional cylindrical lighter body 14 having an enlarged finger knob 16 on its outer end, and a conventional heating or igniting coil 18 on its inner end, and provided with suitable electrical contact means (not shown) for making energizing circuit with contact means present in a conventional lighter socket (not shown) when the lighter 12 is pushed into the socket.

In the illustrative arrangement shown in Figure 3, the coil 18 is fixed in place on the inner end wall 20 of the lighter body 14 by an axial pin 22 passing through the end wall 20 and having a stop head 24 engaging the outer side of the wall and a retaining head 26 embracing a central part of the coil 18, with a protective heat insulating washer 28 intervening between the coil 18 and the end wall 20. I

Shielding means of the invention comprises a cigarette contacting plate 30 covering and spaced from the outer face 32 of the coil 18, and suitable mounting means for the plate 30, which can be a cylindrical heat-resistant material cut 34, having a side wall 36, an open outer end 38, and an end wall 40, the cup 34 being of substantially the diameter of the adjacent end of the lighter body 14 and slightly larger in internal diameter, and concentrically spaced around the generally circular coil 18. In this case, the end cap wall 40 bears directly against the end of the lighter body 14, and has a central opening 42 passing the pin 22, with the insulative washer 28 between the coil 18 and the cup end wall 40. The cup 34 is of a length to reach a substantial distance beyond the coil 18, so that the side wall 36 serves as a glare shield preventing sidewise radiation of light and heat from the coil 18, and as a mounting for the cigarette contacting plate 30. The invention contemplates any suitable means, other than the cup 34 for mounting a cigarette contacting plate in place.

The cigarette contacting plate 30 comprises a circuiar disc 44, smaller in diameter than the cup 34, and of material which is either of heavier gauge than the coil 18 or is otherwise constituted so that the ordinary durations of energizations of the coil 18 are insufiicient to bring the disc 44 to a high enough temperature which would produce ignition of the material of a cigarette end by its contact with the disc 44. Fixed on and spaced circumferentially around the peripheral edge 46 of the disc 44 are resilient or spring lugs 48 which etxend from the outer face 50 of the disc and are spread away or divergent from each other cross-wise of the disc and away from its peripheral edge, so that when the plate 30 is pushed through the open end 38 of the cup 34, the lugs tcnsioned outwardly into frictional engagement with the cup side wall 36 so as to be retained in position in the cup 34 relative to the coil 18.

The material of the disc 44 is cut away to provide circumferentially and radially spaced crescent-shaped louvers 52 which are bent to extend beyond the inner face 54 of the disc 44, and correspondingly shaped air-passing openings 56 through the disc. The disc 44 can also be provided with a central hole 58, aligned with and exposing the head 26 of the pin 22. The plate 30 is pushed into the cup 34 so that the louvers 52 are close to or in contact with the outer face 32 of the coil 18, and, in either case, serve as means for spacing the disc 44 from the coil 18, so that the plate 30 is not in substantial heat transfer contact with the coil and an air space 60 is provided between the coil and the disc.

In use, the end of a cigarette 62, as indicated in Figure 3, is engaged or contacted with the outer face 50 of the disc 44, after the coil has been energized in the usual way, and the usual smoking suction is applied to the other end of the cigarette. This suction draws suflicient heat from the coil 18 through the louver openings 56 to ignite the cigarette.

It will be evident from the foregoing that cigarette contacting plates can be supplied as accessories to be readily applied to lighters having cup-shaped shields, and that in the absence of such shields, can be applied in some other ways. a

The cigarette contacting plate shown in Figures 4 and 7, and generally designated 30a, is generally similar to that of Figures 1 to 3, except for its louver formation. In this case, parallel chordal slits are made across the disc 44a, which are spaced at their ends from the peripheral edge 46a of the disc. The material of the disc 44a between adjacent slits is bent to provide acutely angled chordally elongated louvers 52a which extend beyond both sides of the disc 44a and define chordally elongated air-passing openings 56a through the disc.

The cigarette contacting plate shown in Figures 5 and 8 and generally designated 39b has chordally elongated louvers 52b whic are alternately offset beyond opposite sides of the disc 44b and define chordally elongated airpassing openings 56b.

In the cigarette contacting plate shown in Figures 6 and 9, and generally designated 30c, the disc 440 is provided with circular air-passing openings 56c which are arranged in a diamond pattern, and is devoid of louvers, as such, but is provided with bosses 52c on its inner side 54c, which serve the same function of spacing the disc 440 from the coil 18 as the louvers of the above described cigarette contacting plates.

It is to be noted that in each form of cigarette contacting plate, the size and/or arrangement of the airpassing openings in their discs leaves a major part of the discs opaque, so that the usual objectionable glow produced by energized lighter coils is substantially reduced or eliminated.

While there have been shown and described herein' preferred forms of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structures of and in the relative arrangements of componentss thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric cigarette lighter comprising an elongated body having an inner end, a heating coil secured axially on said inner end, a cigarette contacting plate comprising a disc having an outer face to be engaged by a cigarette end and an inner side, said disc having airpassing opening means therethrough and spacing means reaching beyond its inner side, said disc covering the outerface of the coil with said spacing means spacing the disc from the coil and providing an air space therebetween, and means mounting said plate on the inner end of the lighter body, said disc being opaque and said opening means being limited to minor portions of the area of the disc, said mounting means comprising a cupshaped shield having a side wall, an open outer end, and an inner end wall, said shield being axially aligned with and secured to the inner end of the lighter body, the inner end wall of the shield being positioned between the inner end of the lighter body and the coil, said cigarette contacting plate being telescoped into said shield, said disc of the cigarette contacting plate having a peripheral edge having spread spring lugs therearound and extending beyond the outer face of the disc and frictionallydisc having air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc from the outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between .the heating element and the disc, and means mounting said disc on said body, said lug means being in contact with the outer side of the element.

3. An electric cigarette lighter comprising a body having an end, a flat heating element secured axially on said end and having an outer side, cigarette end contacting means comprising a disc covering the outer side of said element, said disc having an inner side facing said element and an outer side to be engaged by a cigarette, said disc having air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc from the outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between the heating element and the disc, and means mounting said disc on said body, said lug means comprising louvers located at openings.

4. A electric cigarette lighter comprising a body having an end, a fiat heating element secured axially on said end and having an outer side, cigarette end contacting means comprising a disc covering the outer side of said element, said disc having an inner side facing said element and an outer side to be engaged by a cigarette, said disc having air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc from the outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between the heating element and the disc, and means mounting said disc on said body, said lug means comprising louvers located at openings, said louvers being parallel and extending across the disc.

5. An electric cigarette lighter comprising a body having an end, a fiat heating element secured axially on said end and having an outer side, cigarette end contacting means comprising a disc covering the outer side of said element, said disc having an inner side facing said element and an outer side to be engaged by a cigarette, said disc having air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc from the outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between the heating elehaving air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc from the outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between the heating element and the disc, and means mounting said disc on said body, said heating element being a coil and disc being of metal of 'a heavier gauge than that of the coil so as to remain cooler thanthe coil while the coil is energized.

7. An electric cigarette lighter comprising a body having an end, a flat heating element secured axially on said' end and having an outer side, cigarette end contacting means comprising a disc covering the outer side of said element, said disc having an inner side facing said element and an outer side to be engaged by a cigarette, said disc having air-passing openings smaller in diameter than a cigarette, lug means extending inwardly from the disc and spacing the disc fromthe outer side of the heating element and defining an air space between the heating element and the disc, and means mounting said disc on said body, a pin secured at one end to theheating e1ement and at its other endto the body end and securing the element thereon, said mounting means comprising a cup' havin'ga bottom wall and a side wall, said bottom wall being positioned between the body end and the heating element with said pin extending therethrough, said side wall surmunding the heating element and the cigarette contacting disc, said disc being telescoped into the open end of the cup and having circumferentially spaced out- 5 wardly biased spring lugs thereon, said spring lugs being frictionally engaged with the cup side wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hubert Mar. 6, 1900 Wheeler Nov. 17, 1908 Clark Dec. 14, 1920 Detwiler I an. 18, 1927 Lucia Aug. 18, 1931 

